Before the first presidential debate, it was easy to say that the face-offs usually don’t matter that much. One had to go back to 1976, 1980, and 1984 to find examples of a debate having a material effect on a presidential election. But that first debate earlier this month—specifically, Mitt […] Read more »
Viewers Deem Obama Winner of Third Debate, 56% to 33%
Americans who watched the third presidential debate on Oct. 22 are significantly more likely to say Barack Obama did a better job than Mitt Romney, by 56% to 33%. This is the second debate win for Obama. Romney overwhelmingly was seen as the winner of the first debate. … As […] Read more »
Take debate research with grain of salt
As a pollster, I am obviously a numbers junkie, so Monday night was a cornucopia. Moment-to-moment dial-testing by multiple focus groups, instant polls, prolonged parsing of the numbers. It was all good entertainment, but not very good research. [cont.] David Hill Read more »
Obama ‘won’ the foreign policy debate. But what does that really mean?
The final presidential debate is in the books. President Barack Obama emerged a clear winner in my and most people’s opinion. Dominating in tone, Obama forced Mitt Romney on the defensive many times throughout the night. Romney, for his part, seemed satisfied to agree with the president rather than challenge […] Read more »
What the Final Debate Means
We asked political veterans for their reactions to the final Obama-Romney debate. The contributors are Mark S. Mellman, Democratic pollster and Mellman Group president; Frank J. Donatelli, former Reagan political director and current GOPAC chairman; Peter Fenn, a democratic political strategist and owner of Fenn Communications Group; David Winston, GOP […] Read more »
Will Third Debate Change the Electoral Math?
.. President Obama seemed to win the debate on points, but Mitt Romney seemed to take the course pass/fail and clearly passed. Yet it seems unlikely that this third debate will have nearly the impact that the first debate had in boosting Romney and hurting Obama, or that the second […] Read more »